What is cryptocurrency Linear (LINA) and how does it work?

What is Linear (LINA)?

Linear Finance aims to promote inclusivity and democratize access to digital and traditional investment assets by providing a non-custodial, cross-chain compatible, delta-one asset protocol. The Linear team combines knowledge from traditional global asset management firms with experience from crypto projects to make it quick and easy to secure assets at fair market value while saving on fees. This marks one of the first Ethereum-based decentralized finance projects to provide cross-chain compatibility.

One of Linear’s main innovations is “Liquids”, which are synthetic assets that users can create, trade, and manage with zero slippage. Liquids can represent assets such as spot cryptocurrencies, commodities, and thematic indexes, enabling investors to build portfolios with exposures to a range of products. Interactions with the various tokens associated with Linear Finance take place through different apps. These are, namely, Linear Buildr, Linear Exchange, Linear Swap, and Linear Vault.

The ecosystem is powered by LINA, the project’s utility token, which can be used for staking as the base collateral for Liquids. LINA is also the protocol’s governance token, allowing its holders to vote on Linear improvement proposals on topics such as collateral ratio, fee revenue splits, and synthetic asset listings. In the future, the Linear decentralized autonomous organization will also vote on the distribution of staking rewards and reserve tokens.

How Does Linear Work?

Linear Buildr

This decentralized application for collateral pool and Liquids management allows users to create Liquids using LINA tokens as the base collateral. In the future, Buildr will accept as collateral a mixture of LINA tokens and other digital assets, with the LINA token economy being stabilized through the implementation of a threshold on the size of non-LINA tokens to be accepted. To create Liquids, they must be over-pledged, that is to say, the value of the collateral must exceed the value of the Liquids. Initially, the pledge ratio will be set at 500% to drive long-term growth despite any possible volatile or black swan events. Over time, the pledge ratio can be gradually optimized through community-voted adjustments by the LinearDAO. As LINA price is subject to change, the pledge ratio also varies. When it increases, users are able to build more Liquids, though if it falls, users must either stake more LINA or burn some of their Liquids. Through the Buildr dApp, users stake their LINA in order to build the protocol’s stablecoin, lUSD, which can then be used on the Exchange.

Linear Exchange

The Exchange dApp aims to dramatically speed up financial processes such as switching exposure from the S&P 500 to Bitcoin, which in the legacy financial system would take days of settlements and wire transfers. With the use of blockchain technology, Liquids settlement takes place in a matter of seconds. After acquiring lUSD, either through Buildr or other exchanges, users can spend it on the Linear Exchange to buy Liquid versions of assets such as cryptocurrencies, commodities, and indices, with unlimited liquidity and zero slippage. Unlike centralized exchanges, Linear Exchange is not based on order books. Users instead trade directly with Linear’s smart contracts which are backed by a debt pool. Although Linear Finance leverages Ethereum’s tooling and infrastructure, Liquids creation actually takes place on other blockchains, leading to a much higher throughput and lower transaction costs than Ethereum. Also, as the oracle supplying the price feeds of underlying assets can refresh prices quickly and cheaply, the risk of frontrunning is mitigated.

Linear Swap

This custom-built dApp provides cross-chain swap functionality to maintain connectivity and composability across different DeFi ecosystems. Linear Swap is built on Ethereum but is also integrated with Binance Smart Chain and an integration with Polkadot is planned. Any of Linear’s tokens, whether LINA, lUSD, or Liquids, can be swapped to other blockchain formats while saving on gas fees.

Linear Vault

This yield-generation dApp enables customers to earn a passive income. Users can stake their lUSD or LP tokens to receive interest in lUSD, BUSD, and LINA. Some of the staking rewards come from Linear Exchange, as coin exchanges incur a transaction fee initially set at 0.25%. Further LINA rewards come from the token’s inflation. Both of these rewards are paid weekly to stakers on a pro rata basis, provided their pledge ratio is above the threshold.

Who Are The Founders of Linear? (History of Linear)

Linear Finance was founded by Kevin Tai and Drey Ng and raised $1.8 million in seed funding in 2020. Tai, who serves as Linear’s CEO, graduated from UC Berkeley and began his career in Silicon Valley. He has conducted more than $20 billion worth of acquisition and divestment deals and has spent over a decade working on collateralized debt and structured products for banks such as Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered.

Ng is the project’s CTO and has a masters in computer science. He worked in trade finance at Deutsche Bank and HSBC before moving into blockchain and leading the product side of Liquefy, one of Asia’s largest security token offering companies.

The Linear Finance team also includes Chief Marketing Officer Aedreon Marshall, who has played an important role in forming major cryptocurrency partnerships, and Lead Blockchain Developer Jonathan Lei, who contributed to the code base of EOS.

What Makes Linear Unique?

Liquids, or synthetic assets, are the major innovation Linear brings to the crypto sector. With a combination of expertise from both crypto and traditional finance, the Linear Finance team provides its users with somewhere to easily gain investment exposure to a range of digital and traditional financial products.

Linear is one of the first DeFi projects built on Ethereum to be cross-chain compatible. Although the protocol takes advantage of Ethereum’s infrastructure, it uses other blockchains for the creation and swapping of Liquids, which means lower transaction costs and higher throughput than most exchanges hosted on Ethereum.

With near-instant settlement, Linear Exchange provides an ideal environment for traders using algorithmic software and making high-frequency trades. Meanwhile, the use of a price oracle alleviates the problem of frontrunning faced by many similar projects.

What Gives Linear Value?

Investors seeking a diversified portfolio will find Linear Finance a valuable platform as it provides users with exposure to a range of crypto and traditional financial products through its synthetic assets. The range of dApps in the product suite also means that users can build and trade Liquids and generate yield in one place.

The LINA token derives its value from its utility. LINA is a governance token and holders can decide on important issues that affect the protocol. The token is also required as base collateral for creating Liquids. Using LINA to create lUSD entitles users to staking rewards and a share of the trading fees from Linear Exchange. These benefits make LINA a valuable token to hold for users of Linear Finance.

How Many Linear (LINA) Coins Are There In Circulation?

There are currently LINA in circulation out of a total supply of LINA. According to the project’s white paper, the token has an initial inflation rate of 60%, which will decrease until a terminal floor is reached. The inflation rate will depend on the token’s circulating supply and the expected growth of the exchange volume. It will also be reviewed annually by the LinearDAO.

Other Technical Data

In addition to its seed funding, Linear raised a further $310,000 through an initial coin offering in which LINA was sold at $0.005 per token. Out of the total supply, 10% of LINA are reserved for the team and 5% for advisors, both of which are subject to a vesting schedule. A further 10% of the total supply was allocated to the ecosystem, 15% to the Linear Finance reserve, and 40% for staking rewards.

Linear LINA

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Bitcoin BTC

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Ethereum ETH

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XRP XRP

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How To Use Linear

Linear Finance can be used to build synthetic assets, trade them, perform cross-chain swaps, and generate yield through the Buildr, Exchange, Swap, and Vault dApps respectively.

The LINA coin is used to vote on Linear improvement proposals on subjects such as collateral ratio, fee revenue splits, and synthetic asset listings through the LinearDAO structure. It is also used as collateral in Linear Buildr to build lUSD, which can then be used to buy Liquids on Linear Exchange or staked to earn rewards in Linear Vault.

How To a Choose a Linear Wallet

As an ERC-20 token, LINA can be stored in any wallet that supports the Ethereum network and the type you choose will likely depend on what you want to use it for and how much you need to store.

Hardware wallets or cold wallets like Ledger or Trezor provide the most secure option for storing cryptocurrencies with offline storage and backup. However, they can require more technical knowledge and are a more expensive option. As such, they may be better suited to storing larger amounts of LINA for more experienced users.

Software wallets provide another option and are free and easy to use. They are available to download as smartphone or desktop apps and can be custodial or non-custodial. With custodial wallets, the private keys are managed and backed up on your behalf by the service provider. Non-custodial wallets make use of secure elements on your device to store the private keys. While convenient, they are seen as less secure than hardware wallets and may be better suited to smaller amounts of LINA or more novice users.

Online wallets or web wallets are also free and easy to use, and accessible from multiple devices using a web browser. They are, however, considered hot wallets and can be less secure than hardware or software alternatives. As you are likely trusting the platform to manage your LINA, you should select a reputable service with a track record in security and custody. As such, they are most suited for holding smaller amounts of cryptocurrencies or for those making more frequent trades.

Kriptomat offers a secure storage solution, allowing you to both store and trade your LINA coins without hassle. Storing your LINA with Kriptomat provides you with enterprise-grade security and user-friendly functionality.

Buying and selling LINA, or trading it for any other cryptocurrency, is done in mere moments when you choose our secure platform as your storage solution.

Linear Staking

Linear is hosted on the Ethereum network, which currently uses the Proof of Work consensus mechanism but is in the process of transitioning to the more energy-efficient Proof of Stake. LINA, though, is not mineable. It can be staked in Linear Buildr in order to create lUSD, which can then be staked in Linear Vault to earn a passive income.

Conclusion

Linear democratizes access to investment assets by providing a convenient platform for investors to quickly and easily build and manage a portfolio of exposures to both traditional and digital products while saving on fees.

This is done through the project’s synthetic assets, Liquids, which can be created, traded, and used for yield generation through Linear’s various dApps. The protocol’s utility token LINA is important for governance and collateralizing Liquids.

The planned integration with Polkadot, along with any other potential future integrations, could potentially drive growth of the platform, making the project and its token more valuable.

Linear FAQ

What is Linear Buildr v2.0?

The second version of Buildr was released in January 2021 and runs on Binance Smart Chain, whereas Buildr v1.0 ran on Ethereum. This meant an end to the volatile fees inherent in trading Liquids on Ethereum. v2.0 also introduced the Swap functionality, enabling users to swap Linear’s assets between Ethereum and BSC to access the DeFi ecosystems on both protocols.

How will the LINA tokens reserved for the ecosystem be spent?

There were 1 billion tokens allocated to the ecosystem, making up 10% of the total supply. These will be used to drive long-term longevity of the project and encourage a vibrant community by supporting partnerships, grants, and development programs.

How to Buy Linear?

Buying LINA is as easy as visiting Kriptomat’s how to buy Linear page and choosing your preferred method of payment.

How to Sell Linear?

If you already own LINA and hold it in a Kriptomat exchange wallet, you can easily sell it by navigating the interface and choosing your desired payment option.

Linear Price

LINA price is influenced by a lot of the traditional factors such as project news and development details, market sentiment, the flow of cryptocurrency on exchanges, and the economy in general. 

LINA price is also affected by its decreasing inflation rate, demand for Liquids, and the popularity of the Linear Finance platform.

The current price of LINA is EUR.

The 24-hour trading volume of LINA is EUR. LINA is currently ranked of all cryptocurrencies by total market cap, with a market cap of EUR. It has a circulating supply of and a total supply of .

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